You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Register a free account to unlock additional features at BleepingComputer.com

Welcome to BleepingComputer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.

Unable to remove isearch.claro-search.com browser hijacker

Today I've had the misfortune of downloading a file which instead infected me with this browser hijacker isearch.claro-search.com that automatically makes my homepage look like this:

I've been trying all day to remove it but nothing works. First I went in add/remove programs, uninstalled isearch.claro-search.com and other of its components easily. I re-opened firefox and there it was again. I ran a (quick) Norton scan but it caught nothing. I searched on google for tutorials on how to remove it but so many suggest to play around with regedit and although I have some basic computer knowledge, I don't feel confident enough to toy with anything from regedit. So instead I downloaded and ran Kaspersky tdsskiller but it found nothing useful. I then downloaded Spyware Doctor and ran a quick scan on safe mode with networking and it easily found isearch.claro-search.com along with other infections (which I suspect are all linked to this hijacker because I didn't have any computer problems before today). So I purchased Spyware Doctor in order to fully fix the infections and it successfully quarantined them. I thought I was done but to my disappointment, I re-open firefox and there it is again. I don't know what to do anymore. Quite frankly I'm desperate and out of ideas to fix this.

I sincerely hope something can be done to remove this nasty hijacker. A big thank you in advance to anyone willing to help.

Connection Status:==============Localhost is accessible.LAN connected.Google IP is accessible.Google.com is accessible.Yahoo IP is accessible.Yahoo.com is accessible.IE proxy is enabled.

Windows Firewall:=============mpsdrv Service is not running. Checking service configuration:The start type of mpsdrv service is OK.The ImagePath of mpsdrv service is OK.

MpsSvc Service is not running. Checking service configuration:Checking Start type: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open MpsSvc registry key. The service key does not exist.Checking ImagePath: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open MpsSvc registry key. The service key does not exist.Checking ServiceDll: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open MpsSvc registry key. The service key does not exist.

bfe Service is not running. Checking service configuration:Checking Start type: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open bfe registry key. The service key does not exist.Checking ImagePath: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open bfe registry key. The service key does not exist.Checking ServiceDll: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open bfe registry key. The service key does not exist.

Security Center:============wscsvc Service is not running. Checking service configuration:Checking Start type: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open wscsvc registry key. The service key does not exist.Checking ImagePath: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open wscsvc registry key. The service key does not exist.Checking ServiceDll: ATTENTION!=====> Unable to open wscsvc registry key. The service key does not exist.

Connection Status:==============Localhost is accessible.LAN connected.Google IP is accessible.Google.com is accessible.Yahoo IP is accessible.Yahoo.com is accessible.IE proxy is enabled.

Windows Firewall:=============MpsSvc Service is not running. Checking service configuration:The start type of MpsSvc service is OK.The ImagePath of MpsSvc service is OK.The ServiceDll of MpsSvc service is OK.

bfe Service is not running. Checking service configuration:The start type of bfe service is OK.The ImagePath of bfe service is OK.The ServiceDll of bfe service is OK.

Windows Firewall:
=============
MpsSvc Service is not running. Checking service configuration:
The start type of MpsSvc service is OK.
The ImagePath of MpsSvc service is OK.
The ServiceDll of MpsSvc service is OK.

bfe Service is not running. Checking service configuration:
The start type of bfe service is OK.
The ImagePath of bfe service is OK.
The ServiceDll of bfe service is OK.

For some reason F-Secure's scan does not work. The application just keeps loading after I select the language but the scan itself never launches. By the way I just thought you should know: when I open firefox for the first time, my homepage is google again but as soon as I open new tabs, the homepage is back to isearch.claro-search.com